cowboyshootist

I have a dumb question. If you have the Colorado (or even a 60 CSx) why do you need the laptop?

I would also suggest you do a google search on Sky Caddie and read some of the discussion forums about this and other units. Many of the comments I saw suggested that the accuracy of these units is not what hit should be. As you might imagine if the company doesn't update the maps of the courses the unit willl be outdated pretty quickly. Likewise pin placement will vary day to day and that will impact the quality of the information that the GPS maps have. What many people recommended over a GPS based unit is a simple Laser Range finder for determining distance to the hole. Kind of makes sense to me. Get real time data while on the course as opposed to some mapping data that is weeks out of date.

If you just want to teach navigation then a base model Etrex should fill the bill. You might try Costco or one of the other warehouse companies and see if they can cut you an educational discount. I think the basic Etrex goes for under $100 retail. If you need mapping capabilities then you'll want something more than a basic model. My suggestion would be to get mostly the base units with perhaps 5 or 10 advanced models that students could "share" to learn how to use the other features of a GPS.

RK has it right. If you like the explorist and it's working for you then why not just upgrade to a better model? The 210 can take geocache info from the computer so you won't have to load by hand. If you have any additional maps for the 200 they should work for the other Explorists as well. Right now if you shop around you can find a 210 at Walmart for under $75. If you can find them the 500s are reported to be going for $74.

I wouldn't. But I also wouldn't buy a Colorado if I could get one at a really good price either. I might wait a couple months just to see how Magellan handles updating the Tritons and also to see where Garmin goes with the Colorado. Either of these units "might" work for you but then again either unit might just frustrate you because they won't work like you would want them to. Like I mentiioned before, getting a Triton is a risk because you don't know if Magellan will address the issues or just simply move on to the next "big thing" and leave you unsupported and unhappy.

Don't freak out. I believe you have to store tracks and user waypoints on the SD Card. If you capture tracks to the internal memory I believe you have to export them to a file on the SD card. The Crossover isn't a bad GPS unit, although I do agree that Magellan needs to get some updates out for it soon. I have heard that some are coming in March. (not sure what year though )

Anyone thing the Sky Caddie 3 and 4 look a lot like Magellan Explorist units?

So why didn't they cut the price in half? If the old price was 2 GPS for X then why not 1 GPS for 1/2 X? Or even 2/3 X?

Mine does. Do I detect Photoshop at work here? LOL...Just kidding. Which model is that?

But the Tritons do not work. I would two explorist 500 and keep one as a back up. Sounds like you got yours in before they ran out of new or refurb units. I'll have to search around to see if I can find the posting where someone sent in an Explorist and was sent a Triton back. Might have been an anomaly.

I no longer have my Crossover unit but there is a way to download .loc files from geocaching.com and convert them for use on the Crossover. You can use GSAK to do this. As I recall I created a POI file which I imported for Vehicle nav and that allowed me to route to the closest point to the cache via roads. I also imported this file into the Outdoor nav mode as Waypoints and from there you can route to the waypoint in Outdoor mode. I did have to play around with GSAK to use the geocaching.com names for the caches, otherwise I think it created names using the first 12 letters of the description which wouldn't match up with the POI in Vehicle nav mode. So the short answer is Yes you can do this but you'll have to do some research to figure it out since I can't walk you through it without a unit at hand. Sorry...

StarBrand makes a good point. There's a difference between a bug fix and a feature enhancement. I suspect they are getting the list together and then prioritizing the list. I would like to believe that bug fixes are top priority followed by high demand feature enhancements. While Customer Service may not know the target date for a release I can assure you that Marketing and Engineering do have a date in mind. Whether they can get all the changes in by that date remains to be seen. It's quite possible that some of the "bugs" may be hardware related which means that turn around on new chips is going to take a lot longer than simply rewriting some code. So in the mean time we get to sit around and wait and post messages on the forums.

On the other hand it might be a way to get a Triton as a steal of a price. From what I have heard once the Explorist breaks down on you then Magellan will send you a "comparable" Triton since they can't repair or replace the Explorists. Of course I am joking, but some posters have reported this happening. You only have to take a chance that the Explorist might actually work for a period longer than the warranty (again...joking). I've seen Explorist 210s at Walmart for $56 USD. At that price it's almost a throw away unit anyway.

I think that might be a bit of an exaggeration, however, most people do seem to recommend the H version of the Etrex models as this is the High sensitivity receiver version and gets better reception overall.

I love the posts about waterproof GPSr and why the PSP is not a good GPS because it's not waterproof. It's ironic given recent postings about the drowned Colorado and Explorists with battery doors that don't fit right. Drop any GPS, PSP, iPOD or Cell phone on concrete and they all stand a chance of breaking something (plastic case, screen, internal components). If you need to waterproof the PSP get an Otter box. They are waterproof, crushproof and they float. I wonder how many of those Etrexs would have been lost had they been dropped into 20 ft of water?

I might add that the test page for this plug-in will report success as long as it detects some sort of removeable memory device. I have a card reader on my computer and even with the Garmin disconnected the plug-in reports GPS detected and communicating properly.

I would either wait until the Tritons and Colorados get shaken out and up to par or I would go for something in the $100 range, like an Explorist or an Etrex to get by until the next big thing comes along. The other choice is to drop the kwan, get what you want and hope the manufacturer delivers the updates down the road.

It's OK but keep in mind it only has a basemap so for geocaching you might need Topo maps and those can cost anywhere from $60-$100 in addition to the gps. The Legend is also not a color screen, only has 8M for additional maps and is not the "high sensitivity" version of the units. For Garmin Etrex units look for the H for High Sensitivity recievers, C for Color screen and x for SD card slot which can hold additional maps. I would consider the Etrex Venture HC which has color, high sensitivity reciever and 24 m for maps. You can go to the Garmin site www.garmin.com and do a comparison on all the Etrex models, Venture, Sumit, and Legend. There are several models and each one has its own set of features (and price tag).

One thing to look at is whether the laptop has a serial port or not. Some gps units use a serial connection so that if the laptop doesn't have one you'll need a USB to serial converter. Agreed on the no-geocaching with laptop comment.

Craig's List then take the money and buy something else. There aren't many choices for "good" handheld units under $150. You might run by your local Walmart and see if they have any of the Explorists still available. You could also look at the new Tritons but word on the street is that they are still buggy (but updates are coming). There's also the Garmin Etrex line but at $150 you'll be making some tradeoffs. You might also try Costco which has a great return policy in the event that you buy another gps that doesn't work for you.

There are lots of devices that would work for you. You need to decide how much you want to spend on the GPS hardware and whether or not you need 3rd party maps. There are devices that will plug into the laptop and others that can use Bluetooth wireless connections. Bluetooth is handy as it allows the laptop to be positioned where you can access it and the GPS reciever can be placed on the dash or rear parcel shelf to get the best reception. I've heard a lot of good things about the Microsoft Streets and Trips but I have never used it. Delorme also makes a decent package for the laptop.

What do you want to use it for? Are you looking for vehicle nav, geocaching, boating? There are lots of choices depending on your needs. Are you looking for something to connect to the iPaq or are you looking for a stand alone gps device? How much are you willing to spend to replace it?

You have to use the geocaching software that came with your unit. Download your waypoints from the site and save them in a folder that will be easily accesible, like on your desktop. Then open your geocache manager, and open your waypoint file in the manager, and the file should open up and then be able to download your points to the unit. There are plenty of third party apps that will covert and create Magellan compatible files. Search this site or use google and you'll find plenty. GSAK seems to be one of the more popular packages.

You live in Amarillo TX. Come to Seattle. It rains a lot here. If you were using your Treo outside in the weather it would be dead by now. Waterproofing is not just for the battery or SD card slot. I, for one, would want the unit to be waterproof if I am outside geocaching. I am not sure what the issues are with the battery compartment but it sounds like it is not installed correctly.

Get GSAK, a free and very useful utility. Even though GSAK doesn't specifically have a Crossover menu selection you can choose the Explorist selection to create files that the Crossover can handle. You can dowload the .loc files for free from geocaching.com and covert them into waypoints for the Crossover.